Judith J. Francis

Cybersecurity: How good are you in identifying phishing emails?

Every day, a significant number of individual becomes a victim of fraudulent email messages appearing to come from a reputable establishment. These emails usually contain links that will direct its users to a fake website with an interface exactly the same as the legitimate one. Once you log in, they can gain access to your account and use your personal information for their own benefit.

This is why companies and consumers must be fully aware of this type of cybersecurity threat and the ways to identify the emails whether it’s bogus or real. However, experts say that consumers who are too confident in being able to recognize the fake one sometimes become the victim. And those people who aren’t confident enough are often more cautious and doubtful in opening a phishing email.

On an experiment done by experts, the willing participants were directed to identify a phishing email from the real one. Half of the 38 emails given are scam emails and half are legitimate emails. Determining the actions to take and understanding the outcomes of such actions are also included in the experiment.

Results

The experiments’ average rate of success was only 50%. Some of the respondents are identified as people who don’t have the ability or aren’t knowledgeable enough to distinguish a bogus email from a genuine one. They considered all emails as phishing scams beforehand without checking them first, thus, increasing their chances of getting the majority of the phishing emails right. Moreover, those who are over confident with their choices are much prone to become a victim of bogus emails and may result in unwanted outcomes if done in real situations.

Conclusion

The study concluded that it is necessary for consumers to become aware and well-informed on various phishing scams to recognize and prevent the implications it may bring. Experts recommend of signing for embedded training to help consumers make significant better decisions when facing such scenarios. Embedded training is an effective solution where consumers will receive fake phishing emails and once clicked, will teach the user about scam messages and more.